I Always Dream of You
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Arthur's troubled marriage to his childhood sweetheart Becky is falling apart. They fail to conceive a child hoping it will save them and Becky is becoming desperate and Arthur is looking for a way out. At his father's company, he meets a beautiful accountant named Ariadne and starts a turbulent affair with her, risking everything. I think Kristen Dunst would make a good Becky
1. Chapter 1

** Arthur's troubled marriage to his childhood sweetheart Becky is falling apart. They fail to conceive a child hoping it will save them and Becky is becoming desperate and Arthur is looking for a way out. **

** At his father's company, he meets a beautiful accountant named Ariadne and starts a turbulent affair with her, risking everything. **

** I think Kristen Dunst would make a good Becky. **

**~ I Always Dream of You ~**

1.

~ Arthur dreamed of a strange things. Perhaps it was something he ate and it caused the odd dreams that he forgot as soon as he woke up.

It has been a good dream. He remembered he had been happy in them.

He felt his wife's long, thin arm roam over his chest as they both woke up to the sounds of her alarm clock going off.

"Time is it?" Becky moaned as her blond hair looked especially unkempt this morning. Last night had been one of their 'trying' nights and the sex had felt more like work to Arthur then making love. Still, Becky had been ovulating and she had wanted a child for the past three years with no luck; she was growing desperate.

"Early." Arthur mumbled as his wife rested her head on his chest.

"Did you want to go again?" Becky asked as her hands moved down to his groin.

Arthur pushed her hands away from him, and got out of bed.

"I have to be at work early." he lied. He hadn't been able to tell his wife, his childhood sweetheart, he had to start using Viagra to get the necessary erection each time she was ovulating. Fortunately, they never had sex except on her most fertile days.

"I think last night might have done it." Becky said happily as she smoothed out her blond hair. Her chocolate eyes shinning brightly as she grinned at him with the crooked teeth he had always loved about her.

"Hopefully." Arthur said as he started to dress. He didn't have to be at his father's company today at all. He was the CFO and it was mostly an honorary title. Arthur wasn't required to do anything, as his management team did all the real work. Arthur had an office and was there to look good for meetings.

"I was worried we would have to go back to the fertility doctor." Becky sighed as she she slipped out of the bed and got herself dressed for a day of shopping.

Arthur let out a sigh.

"He said there was noting wrong." he told her as he watched his wife dress in the expensive, tacky zebra print outfit that no doubt cost a fortune and she would only wear once.

"Well, then why haven't we been able to get pregnant? I mean, we've been trying for years." she told him bitterly.

"Where are you going today?" Arthur asked.

"Dinner with the girls." Becky said. "At the Rose."

"Are you going to drink?" Arthur asked with a audible sigh.

"Arthur." Beck said as she dressed. "Enough of that AA bullshit."

"Becky, you want to have a baby, you can't drink while you're pregnant." Arthur told her.

"When I find out I'm pregnant, I'll stop. I would never hurt our baby." Becky said.

"Another thing." Arthur said as he tied his neck tie. "What's the Visa bill doing at over $20,000 again? And where are the other credit card statements?" Arthur asked.

Becky looked angry.

"Becky you're not working right now. If you had your own money, I wouldn't mind, but-"

"You're the CFO of your daddy's company and your bitching me out for buying clothes? Don't forget I have to dress and look nice for all your friends from work. All those stupid parties." she added angrily.

"Becky, I don't want to fight again." Arthur sighed.

"Fine." Becky said and they both finished dressing.

"Will I see you tonight?" he asked as he headed out the door.

"I'm not sure. Some old friends of mine are coming into town." she told him. "We wanted to go out to dinner."

"You don't want me to meet them?" Arthur asked.

"Boring girls from school. You would hate it." Beck said and they kissed awkwardly goodbye.

~ Arthur hated his life. He hated the girl he had married fresh out of college. He had never dated another girl and, at one time, he had loved Back intensely.

But soon into the marriage, things had changed.

She had refused to let him join the military as an officer. She had lied to him, saying she was pregnant and they had gotten married. When he found out the truth, he had stayed hoping things would improve. His father placed him in a nice job with the company and he was able to provide for his wife who suddenly became an alcoholic, and who shopped non stop.

Then the talk of wanting to have a baby had come up. It was like a light had gone off in Becky and she wouldn't let go of the idea of a baby.

Arthur had been reluctant. He saw only divorce in his future with Becky. Added to the fact a child with her would force them together forever, but he lacked the courage to leave her.

Despite being paid well, Becky had shopped them in deep debt.

~ He drove to his father's offices where he did little more than surf the web all day and tried to look busy. He was a joke and he knew it. He had never accomplished anything.

He had wanted to work in the military. A friend of his, Dom Cobb was doing fascinating work with his wife Mal. The two of them were everything he had hoped he and Becky could be. But the reality of married life was much more disappointing for him.

We wanted to quit his job, wanted to leave his wife, and above all, he did not want to be a father. Babies were messy and demanding and he knew Becky would be a poor mother at best.

He was thankful each month when Becky got her period. It was another month of freedom and another month to plan his escape.

"Arthur?" came his only real friend, Richard.

Arthur checked in with security and was met by his only friend in the world at a bank of elevators.

"You forget the meeting or what?" Richard teased.

"Oh, no. Sorry." Arthur said.

Richard was a kind soul. One who wasn't used to the harshness of New York City and who befriend Arthur right away. He was older, but they got along very well.

"What's this meeting about?" Arthur asked as he tried to straiten out his suit.

Dressing well had normally been a natural thing for Arthur, but his depression made wanting to look good hard.

"Don't you ever pay attention?" Richard asked. "We're dealing with the accountants today."

"Crap." Arthur moaned as he got on an elevator. If there was one thing he hated, it was accountants. They were boring and stuck up. The pool of accountants who worked for him were the worst click of women who acted like girls he had ever met. They may as well have been in high school.

"Hold the elevator!" came a shout from the hall.

Arthur hinged over and gracefully held the lift doors open to let a petite young woman in. She was shouldering a bag and was out of breath from the run past the lobby.

"Thank you." she breathed as the doors slid shut and the three of them rode the lift.

"What floor?" Arthur asked as his eyes wandered over her. He liked the lacy blouse she wore and the way her dark hair fell on her shoulders in nice waves. Her skin was soft and smooth. With only a touch of make up making her look like a china doll.

"Ninth, please." she said and turned her large brown eyes on Arthur.

"That's where we're going." Richard said.

"I wish I wasn't going." the young woman said with a bitter laugh. "I'm not really an accountant, but there are not a choice of jobs out there these days."

"What is it you _wanted_ to do?" Arthur asked shyly. Suddenly aware he didn't look as immaculate as he should as CFO of the company.

"I studied Architecture, in Paris." the girl said with a shrug.

"Oh." Arthur said stupidly. "How nice." He tried to sound aloof. "So you lived in Paris then?"

"Yes. It was an amazing experience, I came to New York because I thought there would be more opportunities."

"And you started working here." he concluded.

"This job is just till I can find something I really want to do. New York is so expensive and there just isn't anything going in architecture right now." she added.

"You don't like your job?" Arthur asked. "In accounting?"

"I don't like the women there. Girls like that are so mean. I thought high school was over." she laughed. "I'm Ariadne, I'm the new girl in accounting." she said with a nice smile Arthur found himself returning.

He hadn't really smiled in months and it was a nice feeling. He liked how he felt with this girl. He suddenly felt years younger.

"I'm Richard, this is our CFO, Arthur." his friend told her.

Ariadne's face fell as the lift dinged on their floor.

"Oh, what I meant about not wanting to come to work." she stammered. "I like my job, I really do."

"It's alright." Arthur laughed. "If you want to know the truth, I didn't want to come to work either."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ Accounting was populated by a gaggle of silly women who acted like the worst click of high school girls Arthur had ever met. They would text on their phones and whisper between each other instead of listening to him.

He felt like he always did at work; like no one respected him and they all knew he was just the son of the boss and they didn't have to give him the time of day.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Ariadne whispered as they walked into the department.

"It's okay." he assured her. Trying to be polite and dreading leading this meeting.

"I like it here, and I need this job." Ariadne said as the evil girls walked past them. She leaned in and whispered.

"It's just, these women are so catty, it's hard sometimes." she admitted.

"I've noticed that to." Arthur told her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

He felt a warm wash of pride come over him as he found some type of courage. He was going to help this girl.

"Please be seated." he commanded the room as some of the women were still on cell phones and chatting. Their voices sounding like hens clucking.

Ariadne sat in the back and gave him a worried look.

"I said: be seated!" Arthur suddenly shouted at the room. "Turn off your phones and pay attention."

The women suddenly looked at him in shock. They were used to him being very passive and quite at these meetings. Nothing like this.

"It's come to my attention the invoices are not going out on time. Some of them are even being worked up days late. I think maybe because there has been too much gossiping, or texting and other things. All of you are grown ups, and I expect you to do your jobs. Or else I can find other people to do them, possibly even outsource this whole department." he said sternly.

The women looked a little worried as Ariadne gave him an impressed look.

"I've also heard some troubling rumors from other departments about how you treat your co-workers. I'm not going to name who is responsible, but it stops right now, understand?" he looked around the room to see them all nodding.

Arthur felt he was on a roll, so he went on.

"Invoices need to be delivered to me alone... who is the most junior person here?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

The catty women were more than happy to name Ariadne as the new hire and the one who would do all the leg work.

"Ariadne is it?" he asked and the new girl nodded and fought a smile. "You'll bring me the invoices three times a day. Put them in my hands alone; no more middle management on this issue." he told the room.

He looked at his watch and acted like he had too much to do.

"Now, I'm leaving, I never want to hear about any more drama coming out of this office again, or there will be serious turn over, ladies." he said.

~ Arthur was sitting in his office, feeling proud, for the first time in a long time. He had never stood up in an office meeting before. Never acted like a boss before.

He let his mind roam over to thoughts of the new girl. How she had looked at him with respect at the meeting. How he had hopefully made life easier for her today.

He was day dreaming about her when there was a gentle knock on his door.

"Come in." he called out. Expecting it to be Richard.

He sat back in his chair and was surprised to see Ariadne come shyly in.

"Hello." he said brightly as he stood to greet her.

"Hello, again." she said as she gave him a thick stack of invoices. "You certainly scared them into doing their jobs this morning."

"Good to know. They giving you any trouble? I don't want them to think you ratted on them." he consoled her.

"Oh no." she laughed. "They are too busy accusing each other of snitching." she giggled.

"Well, that's even better." he laughed.

"Thank you, for putting them in line. It will make things easier down there." she told him. "They think because I lived in Paris for so long, that I'm not a real American or that I'm a euro snob or something."

"You know, I happen to know there is a position open in the design team on an upcoming project." he said hopefully. "It's not doing buildings or anything-"

"Oh, my God, really?" she exclaimed. "I would love that!"

Her pretty face lighted up happily and Arthur couldn't stop looking and how rich and fair her skin was. How separate she was from Becky in every way in regard to looks.

"Alright. It may take a while, but I talk to the team leader." Arthur told him.

Ariadne looked happy and was about to stand to go.

"Actually, I'm about to go to lunch." he said quickly. "Why don't we go together and we can discuss the design teams there?"

"Oh, well..." she floundered. "I kinda brown bag my lunch." she explained.

He gave her a smile.

"It's my treat." Arthur told her.

~ The one time he was glad to work at his father's company, was using the corporate card and being let into the exclusive dinning club that catered only to the elite of New York.

Arthur had quickly smoothed out his clothes, striated his tie and made himself look presentable before he drove the both of them to lunch.

"Oh my." Ariadne said as he felt her hand tighten on his arm. "That's the mayor." she whisperd in his ear as the hostess lead them to their table.

"Would you like me to introduce you to him?" Arthur asked.

"No! Are you crazy?" she laughed as they sat down.

"White wine." he told the waiter stiffly.

He chanced a look at Ariadne. She was impressed by the fine dinning room and cloth napkins. Impressed by how he ordered them drinks and how they were seated among the cream of the city.

"So, tell me about you. Tell me about Ariadne." he said as they waited for the meal.

"Well." she said shyly and he longed to touch her shinny dark hair. Hair that wasn't over styled and was healthy from keeping in natural.

She rolled her eyes back as she started her life story.

"Let's see. My parents passed away when I was younger. I was raised by my grandparents; Victoria and Hugo. They passed away a few years ago in a house fire." she told them.

"I'm so sorry." Arhtur said sitting back. He expected this nice looking young woman to go home to a house full of sisters and a gentle mother and father.

"They were older and it's alright." she told him sadly. "I came to New York, after graduation, because I wanted a fresh start."

"Bad memories in Paris?" he asked.

"Several." Ariadne moaned. "I was dating this guy and I guess I'm the kind of girl who isn't a casual dater. I wanted something serious, he didn't."

"That's awful." he said.

"Not really." she laughed. "I totally stalk him on Facebook now and he's gotten bald, fat and has a gross douche bag beard."

Arthur felt himself smile at that.

"So, do you want to build buildings?" he asked.

"I want to restore them. New Work has so many great buildings that need to be saved. The whole city is landmarks and with the right people behind it, we can do a lot." she told him.

They said nothing as their food arrived and they started eating. Arthur was happy the meal was so good. It had been a long time since he had cared enough to impress a girl.

"So, tell me about you, Mr. Ro-"

"Arthur." he interrupted. "Please don't call me anything other than Arthur."

"Sorry." she said shyly. "So, tell me about you."

"Well." he mused. "I grew up here. My dad is CEO of this company and I've never had a real job a day in my life." he meant it to sound funny. But it just came out sad.

He shook his head.

"My mother, she was a dancer. Prima Ballerina for the New York City Ballet." he told her.

"Wow." Ariadne said breathlessly. "I love the ballet."

"She passed away when I was eight." Arthur told her sadly.

"Oh."

"Yes, I grew up in boarding schools and after college, I started at my fathers company." he concluded.

He saw her large brown eyes going to the wedding ring on his finger and wished he had takne it off.

"Oh, yeah." he said "I'm married."

"That's nice." she said and went back to eating.

"Not really." he told her.

Her eyes looked back at him.

"We can't have a baby." he said, more to himself than to her. "Becky is going to go crazy if she doesn't get pregnant soon."

"Oh, um Arthur. I'm not looking to be a surrogate." Ariadne interrupted.

Arthur laughed.

"No, no." he assured her. "It's not like that at all. I don't want my wife to have a baby. I think it would be a huge mistake."

Ariadne looked at him curiously.

"I think she would be a horrible mother. She goes into these rages sometimes." he said sadly. "She spends too much money, drinks too much. We had her in treatment last year for an eating disorder."

"I'm sorry." Ariadne whispered.

"It's not your fault." Arthur said. "I shouldn't have married her. We were childhood sweethearts, I've never dated anyone else."

He suddenly realized he had made a decision.

"I'm going to leave her." he announced to his new friend. "I'm going to leave her and get a divorce."

"Are you sure?" Ariadne asked. "I mean, have you tired marriage counseling?"

Arthur shook his head.

"I don't want to be with her anymore and she thinks a baby will keep us together, but I don't want a child. I don't want to be a father." he said.

~ They spoke very little at lunch and took a cab back to the office.

"I'm sorry, about all I said at lunch." Arthur told her as they took the elevator up.

"It's alight." she consoled him.

"No, it's not alright." he argued. "I had no right unloading all my problems onto a girl I just met."

"I won't say anything." she promised. "For what it's worth, all the girls in accounting think you're cute."

He looked at her and the smile she didn't try to hide.

He felt she was teasing him and laughed.

"I know this sounds, stupid, but can I hold your hand till we reach our floor?" he asked in a softer voice.

Ariadne looked taken aback and moved her purse closer to her body.

"I don't think that's a good idea." she whispered.

Arthur felt foolish and a rush of embarrassment tinted his cheeks.

"No, of course not." he fumbled.

"You're my boss."

"I now that."

"You're married."

"I know, I don't know why I said that." he said and they watched the lift roll up the floors in silence.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ Arthur didn't want to go home to Becky that night after work. Instead, he watched the girls from accounting leaving the building, and spotted Ariadne taking subway to wherever she lived.

He pictured her in a small apartment in Brooklyn for some reason. A tiny, cozy place where the bedding was mismatched, but was clean and smelled of lavender and soft perfume. Where the dishes were fun oddities from yard sales, and there was something wonderful cooking on the stove. An apartment where the living room furnishings were worn and out of style, but so comfortable, you knew you were home there. Maybe she went home and read all night while listening to piano music.

Yes, that was it. That was how he wanted to picture her home.

Ariadne, curled up in a pretty blanket and wearing cute pajamas. Drinking a cup of tea, reading a book. Her fair skin washed free of make up, as she looked comfortable and happy.

He wasn't sure why he liked this fantasy so much. Why he wished he could crawl into the bed with her and.. _distract_ her from her reading. He had a nice time at lunch today. She made him feel things he hadn't felt in years. She had made him feel like... like a man. A man who was in charge, who deserved respect. He felt better about himself than he had in a long time. He felt like he had come to her rescue in that meeting, that she had looked at him in a way others didn't.

He was able to hold onto those good feelings as he drove back to the apartment he had to share with Becky.

He almost didn't realize he was home until a sickening smell greeted him in the bedroom, and brought back horrible memories.

Beck had put perfume in the air to try and disguise the smell of her vomit. She had obviously been purging again. Her disgusting eating disorder resurfacing so plainly, it could no longer be denied.

"How was your day?" Arthur said dryly to his wife as she was looking over a fashion magazine.

"Fine." she told him in a new night dress that was tacky and too slutty.

He could see her clavicle bone sticking out and wondered for the hundredth time why she thought she was fat. If anything, Beck was becoming too thin and the weight loss made her look older.

"What did you have for lunch?" he asked wearily as he tried not to think about that sour smell of puke coming from the bathroom. She was back to binging and purging again and he doubted he could go through another round of counseling and treatment centers.

"Salad." she told him as he decided he would sleep in the guest room, again.

He didn't want to sleep in the same bed with her when she smelled like that.

"Becky, have you been making yourself sick again?" Arthur asked directly. The confidence Ariadne had given him making him bolder.

His wife gaped at him in horror.

"No." she said. Sounding highly offended. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"I can smell it, Becky." he told her bluntly.

"Are you trying to say I smell bad?" she accused instead.

"Well, you can't exactly hide it. How long have you been throwing up again? Have you been using laxatives to?" he asked as he stripped off his tie and shed out of his work clothes.

"I'm not doing any of that." she told him and went back to her magazine.

"Becky, you can't be pregnant and have an eating disorder." Arthur said feeling all his energy, all the good emotions Ariadne gave to him today were being sapped out.

"Well, since you've been failing to get me pregnant, I don't think that's much of an issue." she said in a hurtful tone.

He words struck a nerve.

"I'm sleeping in the guest room." he announced. "You have plenty of time in the morning to call Dr. Winslow and set up an appointment to go see him about the purging again."

"Arthur, I'm not-"

"I'm not stupid, Becky. I'm not having a child with you if you're going to be doing this." he said and left her for the night.

~ The morning was better. He left the apartment early and was at work before most of the other staff came in.

Ariadne passed by his office and waved at him. He felt his heart lighten at the sight of her easy smile; her effortless kindness. He even liked the way she dressed. Simple and plain, with no hint of zebra, leopard or any other animal print on her.

"You look nice today." came a voice as he was looking over paper work he suddenly found interesting.

Arthur jumped to see Ariadne in front of his desk. The morning invoices in her hands.

"Connie wanted to make sure you had these right away." she said with a teasing smile as Arthur smoothed out his tie.

It was true he had taken more time to dress better. He wanted her to think he was capable of looking nice. He smiled as she gave him the invoices for the morning.

"I have them running scared?" he asked.

"Oh, yes." Ariadne laughed. "I've never seen them so busy."

"Look, about what happened in the elevator yesterday." he said as she stood in front of him.

"Already forgotten." Ariadne said and started to leave.

"When are you going for lunch?" he asked rashly before she could escape.

"Umm..." she looked lost.

"It's just that I had a nice time yesterday and I don't have a lot of friends here at work. Or any friends here period." he admitted.

"Arthur, I would feel weird about going out with you. My _married _boss." she explained.

"Would it make you feel better if I transferred you to another department?" he asked. "I won't be your direct supervisor anymore. You've already been approved for the design team. Ronnie, the team leader is looking forward to working with you. It's a bunch of tech guys using rendering software all day. They could use you."

"I got the job?" Ariadne asked with a laugh.

"Of course." Arthur told her. "Unless you want to stay in accounting."

"I don't want to stay in accounting." Ariadne told him with a shudder.

She looked at him as if she knew she had said something wrong.

"I mean, I liked meeting you, but it's just not what I want to do." she explained quickly. "Accounting." she clarified awkwardly.

"I understand. You'll report to Ronnie in the morning. You'll work with him and never see me in the office again." he told her sadly.

"It's not just that you're my boss. You're still married." she said sadly.

"I sleep in the guest room." he told her in a whispered voice. As if this fact eased his marital restraints somehow.

"Arthur, if you're unhappy, just divorce her." Ariadne told him.

"I am. I will." he whispered as he leaned in closer to her.

He could smell the hint of her perfume. Her skin smelling like expensive candy and his longed to touch her face and see if it felt a smooth as it looked.

"Stop." she said suddenly and Arthur realized he was moving in to kiss her.

"I'm sorry." he told her.

"Arthur, I don't want to be one of these women who get ahead in business by sleeping with the boss." she said sternly and took a step back.

"I'm sorry." he apologized again.

She was about to leave him, when he took hold of her hand.

"I _will_ leave Becky." he offered.

Ariadne gave him a little smile.

"Arthur, I want you to find out what makes you happy." she told him. "But please don't pin all your hopes on me."

~ "You and the new girl from accounting?" Richard laughed.

"She's not my girl friend." Arthur said as the two of them ate their lunch in his office. The cafeteria being too much like lunch time in middle school. Arthur and Richard were the odd ones out with nowhere to sit, no tribe to belong to.

"I don't blame you. She's pretty, well traveled and smart." Richard said as his slurped his soup noisily.

"We haven't done anything." Arthur sighed.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean _why not_?" Arthur hissed. "I'm married and I'm her boss."

"You're still married to Becky? After what she did at the fourth of July party?" Richard asked.

"She was drinking then, she's not drinking anymore." Arthur lied.

"Dude, she made out with the tech guy, then shouted at you for not being able to get it up the night before. A lot of guys would have left a woman for a lot less." Richard said.

"Thanks for reminding me about that. I almost forgot it." Arthur grumbled.

"Don't feel bad. She made my balls shrivel at the sight of her to." Richard added. "Arthur, you have to get out of that marriage." Richard added sadly.

"Well, it doesn't matter."

"Why?"

Arthur looked at his untouched lunch.

"Ariadne doesn't like me the same way I like her." he said.

"Oh."

"I transferred her to the design team and I'm not her boss anymore." Arthur said.

"One less complication. Now just get rid of Becky and things will be much better." Richard offered.

"I will, but the girl I like, she doesn't want me." Arthur sulked.

"She doesn't want to be the other woman." Richard clarified. "Leave Becky, and when the divorce is final, ask Ariadne out."

"A divorce could take years." Arthur said sadly.

"Not really. If you're willing to give her everything, you could be free." Richard told him. "Larry, in IT, his ex only took half his retirement, and options from the company, soul custody of the kids. He got away clean except for the 80k a year he has to lay down for spousal and child support."

Arthur let out a deep sigh.

"Just don't have a kid with her. Then your boys will really be in a bunch." Richard added.

Arthur jumped as his secretary beeped in.

"Sir?" she piped over the intercom.

"What is it?" Arthur asked in an authoritative tone.

"You need to come downstairs, to the lobby." she clarified.

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

"It's the new girl, the one from accounting, there's been an accident. EMS is on their way."


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Arthur didn't bother with the elevator, and took the service stairs to the lobby, two at a time.

A small crowd was gathered at the front desk and few yards away from the front entrance, where a construction crew had been working on putting up new windows.

"Careful, sir. There's glass everywhere." the security guards warned him as he approached the girl laying on the floor. A receptionist kneeling beside her as bright red blood spotted the white granite floors and stained Ariadne's gray dress.

"What happened?" Arthur growled as the crowd looked up and stepped aside.

"The movers were bringing in a new window and they weren't looking-" the receptionist tried to explain as EMS came through the door.

"It was my fault, I didn't see." Ariadne whimpered as Arthur saw a large shard of glass sticking out of her shoulder.

"Ariadne." he breathed in shock and knelt down beside her.

A large shared of glass was sticking out of her shoulder and looked like she had been stabbed. She was holding back tears as she the crowd looked worriedly at her.

"Let them through!" Arthur commanded the crowd as the paramedics raced to her.

"I'm sorry, Arthur." Ariadne gasped as the paramedics stated to take her vitals.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Arthur whispered as he couldn't shake the image of all that blood on Ariadne's dress.

"I wasn't being careful, I didn't see..." she tried to explain as the lead paramedic said they were taking her to the hospital.

"I'm riding with her." Arthur told them.

"We only let family-" the paramedic said.

"I'm going with her." Arthur barked the man in such a controlled way, they had no choice but to comply.

"Arthur?" Ariadne gasped as they helped her to the stretcher and she let out a sob of pain.

"Try not to move too much." he whispered as he walked beside the stretcher. Her small hand reaching for his as they loaded her in the ambulance.

"I got blood on your suit." she moaned as her eyes fluttered.

"Ma'am? Stay awake, please!" the paramedic demanded.

~ Arthur always hated New York traffic, but riding in the back of an ambulance made the slow stop and go motion worse than ever. Cars didn't move out of the way like they were supposed to, pedestrians were trying to get themselves killed, and even the bike messengers seemed to have a death wish.

Ariadne seemed to flutter in and out of consciousness as the rig lurched through traffic on it's way to the hospital.

They cut away part of her dress and Arthur saw the huge shard of glass invading her fair skin. Her blood soaking through the fabric of her clothing as she let out a moan of pain.

Finally, they arrived at the nicer hospital he demanded they take Ariadne to.

"Insurance?" the charge nurse asked as she was immediately taken to surgery.

"She's a recent hire." Arthur said bitterly as he was not allowed to follow her to surgery. "He pulled out his corporate card and gave it to her. "Billing will be sent to me."

~ Arthur was made to wait in a private waiting area for Ariadne to get out of surgery. A nurse called him on a closed line to say the surgery was going well and the doctor would be out soon to speak to him.

Arthur waited for hours, and wished he knew who to call. Ariadne didn't seem to have any family and was new to the city. Someone should know she was here. Someone should be here when she woke up.

"Are you the responsible party?" came a man in green scrubs.

Arthur stood as Ariadne's surgeon shook his hand.

"How is she?" he asked.

"The glass narrowly missed her heart. There is some deep tissue damage that is going to require rehab, but she's going to be fine. Although her arm will be in a sling for a few months." the surgeon said.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can I go see her?" he asked.

"She's still under the medication, but she might be able to talk to you." the surgeon told him.

~ Arthur wasn't put at ease by the sight of Ariadne in the hospital bed. She was pale and had a nasal cannula snaking around her ears to touch at her nose. Her shoulder was heavily bandaged as there were tubes coming out of her arm.

"She's awake, but she needs her rest." the nurse told him.

"I won't stay long." Arthur promised as he saw the night sky through the window.

"Ariadne?" he whispered placeing a cuddly teddy bear he got from the gift shop on her night stand.

She opened her eyes and stared at him curiously.

"Arthur?" she said groggily.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm thirsty." she complained in a sad little voice.

"Nurses say you can't have anything. They have you on an IV for fluid." he explained.

"Hmm." she said and rolled her eyes back to sleep again.

"Do you need me to call anyone?" Arthur asked.

"No." she said weakly.

Arthur nodded and looked worriedly at her.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open.

"I don't have health insurance yet." she realized.

"Don't worry about that. You were hurt on company property. We're kinda hoping you won't sue us." Arthur admitted with a smile.

"Is that why you're here?" she asked him.

"No, I'm here because I was worried about you." he told her honestly. "I saw that big piece of glass coming out of your shoulder and I think my heart stopped beating."

"I'm sorry." she said weakly.

"It's okay, you just rest." he told her.

"Arthur?" she croaked in a chapped voice.

"Yes?"

"Will I be okay?" she asked.

"Yes, they got all the glass out."

"I thought I might not be. I wasn't ready to go. There was so much I wanted to do... I didn't want to die, I wasn't ready." she said.

"You're going to be fine." he told her.

"Arthur?"

"Yes."

"I need someone to go to my apartment and check on Mr. Eames. He'll worry about me if I don't come home." she said groggily.

"Who's Mr. Eames?" Arthur asked. Instantly jealous of another man in her apartment.

"He's my cat. I got him so I wouldn't be so lonely. Someone needs to feed him." she said.

"Oh." Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at himself. "When you said Mr. Eames, I thought you were talking about a boyfriend."

"Oh, no." Ariadne said weakly. "Mr. Eames would never be my boyfriend. He's kinda an ass hole. Plus I had him neutered."

Arthur let out a laugh and Ariadne smiled bravely at him.

"Thanks for coming with me." she said. "I was really scared."

"You're going to be fine. They are going to keep you over night and we'll see where we are in the morning." he told her.

"Arthur?" she whispered as he stood to leave.

He leaned over and was surprised that she clasped his neck tie with her working hand and pulled him closer. Her lips brushing over his forehead as she kissed him.

~ Mr. Eames _was_ an ass hole.

Arthur had let himself into her apartment with the set of keys from her purse to feed her cat and collect a fresh change of clothing for her. A long haired Siamese meowed at him from her vintage, teal colored, formica kitchen table.

He looked haughtily up at the intruder and demanded his dinner, which Arthur found in the cupboard.

Eames looked at the dry cat food, meowed at Arthur and turned away.

"Fine, don't eat it." Arthur sighed as he went to Ariadne's closet.

Her apartment was everything he thought it would be. A rich collective of bohemian décor, topped off with a corner devoted to painting. Ariadne was an artist he realized as he looked over splendid water colorings of French landscapes. Arthur was looking over her sketches and water colorings as Mr. Eames glared at him.

He couldn't help but feel, if the cat was human, Mr. Eames would be giving him the finger just now.

Arthur noticed in the tiny apartment, her living room doubled as her bedroom. A daybed shoved against the wall to act as a sofa. Mr. Eames sitting primly on one of the fancy embroidered pillows and Arthur went to shoo him off.

Something caught his eye. A needle worked pillow was stitched with words.

He stared at them for a long time, trying to remember where he had heard of them before.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." Arthur read.

He could almost picture the person saying them. The voice they used, the accent was... was...

Arthur shook his head and the voice was gone. Only Mr. Eames glaring at him.


End file.
